Pilgrims Don't Wear Pink by Stephanie Kate Strohm

Book:  Pilgrims Don’t Wear Pink

Author:  Stephanie Kate Strohm

Publisher:  Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Date:  May 8, 2012

Source:  Publisher via Netgalley

My grade:  B-

A story of crushes, corsets, and conspiracy

Libby Kelting had always felt herself born out of time. No wonder the historical romance-reading, Jane Austen-adaptation-watching, all-around history nerd jumped at the chance to intern at Camden Harbor, Maine’s Oldest Living History Museum. But at Camden Harbor Libby’s just plain out of place, no matter how cute she looks in a corset. Her cat-loving coworker wants her dead, the too-smart-for-his-own-good local reporter keeps pushing her buttons, her gorgeous sailor may be more shipwreck than dreamboat — plus Camden Harbor’s haunted. Over the course of one unforgettable summer, Libby learns that boys, like ghosts, aren’t always what they seem.

MY REVIEW

Initial reaction:  Meh, it’s ok……

Title and Cover

I think the title and the cover are both very fitting for this book.  You can take one look at it and know that it’s not going to change your life, but it might entertain you for a few hours on the beach or in the car.  The cover is cute and it actually fits with the story, which is sort of hard to find these days!

The Plot

The plot of this book left me a little underwhelmed.  Honestly, there wasn’t a lot of meat to this read.  I think that the whole romance with Cam was completely rushed and so I never understood Libby’s attachment to him.  In fact, I think this story could have used another 100 pages to flesh out some of the plotlines and it would have been much better.  As it stands, this plot is sort of like cotton candy.  It tastes really good going down, but it leaves you still hungry for something with more substance when you’re finished.

The characters

This was the highlight for me in this book.  The characters were very interesting.  Libby was a contradiction in terms, but it worked.  Ashling was a great mean girl and it was funny to see the nerdy girl get to be mean for a change.  I liked Garrett a lot and even Cam was fairly interesting.  The show stealer though was Dev, Libby’s gay BFF, and was he ever fabulous!  I wish that we could have seen more of him!  The little girls from the camp were adorable.  In fact, this cast of characters was so wonderful that if the plot had been fattened up a bit, I think I would have ended up LOVING this book.  Instead, I feel like it was an alright read, but nothing that I’m going to rave about with random people on the street. (Yes, I really do that.)

The final grade

My final grade for this is a B-.  It ended up being ok when I got to the end, but I really wish that parts of it had been better developed.  This is one to check out from the library and toss it into your beach bag or backpack for a little bit of very light and fluffy reading.

Thanks to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Netgalley for allowing me to read and review this book.  I received no compensation for my review except for a nice description of shirtless colonial American guys.